I am currently looking for a job teaching in Taiwan, and have gotten an offer with Hess Educational Organization. I am just wondering if this is a good organization to work with. Do they treat their teachers well and help them with getting settled in Taiwan.

citygirl wrote:I am currently looking for a job teaching in Taiwan, and have gotten an offer with Hess Educational Organization. I am just wondering if this is a good organization to work with. Do they treat their teachers well and help them with getting settled in Taiwan.

Thanx for any info on them!

While I have never heard of anyone being cheated, harassed or abused at a Hess school, I can tell you one true thing about trying to get work through them:

They are very much of the attitude, "Don't call us, we'll call you." Hess schools will not deal with you individually, only the head office in Taipei will call or place people.

Trying to get Hess to even acknowledge receipt of your resume is next to impossible. Getting answers on open jobs? Unlikely. Getting phone calls on open jobs? Never happened, I and others had to keep calling them daily to hear anything. Even email was too much for them to manage.

If you are currently in Taiwan, it will be difficult to find work now. More than other places in Asia, Taiwan schools hire for September and March, the beginning and middle of the year. If you're waiting for September, take the time to put out feelers at other chains or look for individual schools or recruiters.

Most schools hiring now will only sign a four month contract to get you on their schedule. But that's not such a bad thing if you think about it: if the school sucks or you're treated poorly, you won't be locked in to a long contract, <b>and</b> you will have had time to save some money.

I don't want to plug anyone specifically, but if you'd like a few names of other chains or recruiters, I'll give them privately if you ask.

One last thing: Don't limit your job search to Taipei. Unlike other countries in Asia where working in small towns means isolation (Korea is the worst for this), Taiwan is actually very western in its outlook, has many western conveniences, and you can have a social life. The wages are NT$6000-7000 less per month, but the rents are half as much ($6000 versus $12000) so the net income is the same.